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Syria army presses fight near Damascus despite truce

Rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner in Wadi Barada warn the fragile ceasefire is in danger of collapse.

02 Jan 2017 18:20 GMT

A Syrian soldier assists people in filling their water jerry-cans in Damascus on December 29, 2016 [Youssef Badawi/EPA]

Syria's army advanced on Monday, as it battles to capture a rebel region that is key to the capital's water supply, launching air strikes and artillery fire that threatens a fragile nationwide truce.

The ceasefire brokered by ally Russia and Turkey, which backs the opposition, is now in its fourth day, despite sporadic violence and continued fighting in the Wadi Barada area near Damascus.

"Regime forces and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah group are advancing in the region and are now on the outskirts of Ain al-Fijeh, the primary water source in the area," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

In a statement, rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner in the Wadi Barada warned the truce was in danger of collapse.

"We call on the sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to assume their responsibility and pressure the regime and its allied militias to stop their clear violation of the agreement," the statement said.

Otherwise, they warned, "we will call on all the free military factions operating inside Syria to overturn the agreement and ignite the fronts in defence of the people of Wadi Barada".

The statement said Wadi Barada was included in the deal brokered by Moscow and Ankara and accused the regime of violating the agreement.

The ceasefire deal, and the plan for new talks, received the unanimous backing of the UN Security Council on Saturday, despite offering a competing track to UN-sponsored negotiations.

Turkey and Russia are organising the talks in Astana along with ally Iran, and say they are intended to supplement, not replace, UN-backed negotiations scheduled to resume in February.

Despite backing opposite sides in Syria's conflict, Ankara and Moscow have worked closely in recent months on the war, brokering a deal to evacuate civilians and surrendering rebels from Aleppo last month before the regime recaptured the northern city in full.